


Christmas Dreams

by zebraljb



Series: 2019 Advent Ficlet Challenge [17]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Eggsy feels like nothing good happens to him, Eventual Relationships, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21832021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zebraljb/pseuds/zebraljb
Summary: Eggsy has always wondered why things go so poorly for him...and then he wonders what he's done to deserve it when things go well.(I apologize for the bad tags, I couldn't really put my finger on this one)
Relationships: Merlin/Gary "Eggsy" Unwin
Series: 2019 Advent Ficlet Challenge [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560508
Comments: 6
Kudos: 108
Collections: 2019 Advent Ficlet Challenge





	Christmas Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Advent Prompt #17 - Wonder

Eggsy has always wondered why the powers that be have it out for him. He doesn’t believe in God, per se, at least in the Christian sense, but he has always felt that there is a greater power somewhere running the show. And for some reason that greater power doesn’t like him.

He’s known it his entire life, at least the life he can remember. He’s fairly certain he was happy with his parents, a sweet little family unit of not unattractive people. He’s seen the pictures…a posed photo with him on his father’s lap at the age of two, with his Mum standing close by, her hand on his Da’s shoulder. They look like one of those pictures you get in a purchased frame. And then his dad is gone and some old bloke is making his mum cry and giving him a medal. He doesn’t want a medal. He wants his mum to stop crying. And he wants a bike for Christmas.

Then they struggle. Well, HE struggles. He’s sure his mum struggles but he’s really too young to understand that. He just knows that everyone makes fun of him for his clothes. His jeans are too short and his trainers are from the charity shop. He doesn’t have the right toys and he doesn’t see all the movies that everyone talks about. He’s clean, he’s clothed, but that’s about it. 

He’s not a bad kid, that he DOES know. He nicks things here and there, to make his mum smile, or to stop the constant rumbling in his stomach. Once Dean enters their lives, he steps up more than once to block the fists aimed at his mother. And when Daisy arrives, all thoughts of himself fly out the window. It’s his job to protect his mother and protect his flower.

So why does the universe hate him so much?

Then one day the old bloke comes back, and instead of making anyone cry, he saves Eggsy’s life. He pulls him out of a local jail and drops him off in a fancy manor house where a gorgeous gent with a sweet Scottish accent threatens him with a body bag. The old bloke’s name is Harry, and he’s fucking amazing. He’s posh, he’s gorgeous, he’s brave, and most important, he sees potential in Eggsy. He thinks Eggsy has something to offer the world, and that’s all Eggsy’s been looking for.

But of course that all goes tits up when Eggsy doesn’t shoot a dog. How could he? JB is HIS. He’s never had anything like a pet before; he cared for Daisy, helped raise her and love her, but at the end of the day she didn’t belong to him. JB is his. JB trusts him, loves him, believes that Eggsy will always look out for him. He cannot take the life of an innocent soul, no matter WHAT kind of life he’s sacrificing in return. But the loss of the job isn’t the worst part. The worst part is the look on Harry’s face as Eggsy arrives at his home. The scathing words, the realization that most of what he knew about Kingsman was a façade. Amelia. The train test. Everything. Eggsy reacts without thinking, years of hurt and yearning pushing out of his mouth in words he doesn’t mean. Harry’s handsome face pales and his eyes hold mountains of pain. 

“Can’t you see that everything I’ve done is about trying to repay him?”

Harry’s death right in front of Eggsy’s eyes is a final ‘fuck you’ from the powers that be. No one that has any interest in Eggsy or his happiness would have done something like that. But there Harry is, on the ground, and Eggsy springs into action.

Everything passes in a blur after that, Roxy up in the stratosphere, Merlin looking fit as fuck in his pilot’s uniform. Eggsy doesn’t allow himself to take time to process that thought as it happens…he can’t focus on that now. But once they’re through, and he exhaustedly climbs up the steps of the plane after banging a very sweet princess, he flops onto a chair and stares at his feet. Harry is gone. They’ve saved the world. He’d fucked a princess. Merlin is gorgeous. Scary as all fuck, but gorgeous. And suddenly standing in front of him.

“All right, Eggsy?”

Eggsy slowly looks up at him. He opens his mouth to say yes, fucking aces, give us a high-five, something like that, but what comes out of his mouth is, “No, Merlin, I’m not.”

Merlin sits down next to him and loosens his tie. He then slowly reaches out and puts his hand on Eggsy’s knee, palm up. Eggsy stares at it for a moment and then places his hand in Merlin’s. Merlin twines their fingers together and Eggsy slowly allows his head to fall onto Merlin’s strong shoulder.

If he had time he’d wonder how the fuck this is his life. A posh best mate like Roxy. A boss like Merlin, because Merlin IS his boss until they name a new Arthur. Percival seems to be in the running, but it’s blatantly obvious the man doesn’t want it. So Merlin steps in, as Merlin always does, handsome and steadfast and bloody brilliant. Eggsy spends as much time as possible with Merlin, although that’s rather difficult at the beginning. He seems to find himself on a plane here and there for five months straight after V-Day. Jakarta. Mumbai. Brussels. Eventually they account for all the missing agents and things slowly fall into a new normal. Eggsy starts hanging around Merlin’s office, making sure he eats, helping him with small tasks around HQ. He’s there to help, supposedly, but he spends most of his time just watching Merlin. The way he frowns when he’s working his way through a problem. The way he removes his glasses when he’s tired, his beautiful hazel eyes more striking than ever. The way his strong hands fly across the keyboard. He wonders what he’d have to do to get a man like this to notice him. Apparently very little.

“Ye need to get out of HQ,” Merlin says to him one day.

“Like you got room to talk, bruv,” Eggsy snorts. “Think the Merc needs a bit of a run. I might go to the garage and…”

“Ye will do no such thing,” Merlin says sternly. “We have a garage full of people for that. Ye will go home, shower, and change. I will pick ye up at seven.”

“For what?” Eggsy says, utterly confused.

“Our date.” Merlin removes his glasses (fuck, those EYES) and slowly stands. Eggsy stands as well.

“Our what?” Eggsy gasps. “But we haven’t…you ain’t never said…I…”

“Ye have sat and stared at me for weeks, lad. I figured that was the closest ye were ever going to get to expressing interest…so it was time for me to take things into my own hands.” Merlin cups Eggsy’s face in those beautiful hands and kisses him. “Seven o’clock.”

“Seven…date…” Eggsy says dreamily, and there it is.

The powers that be must be on holiday or sommat, because there is NO way they’d allow him to be this happy. Perfect boss, perfect man, perfect boyfriend, perfect hands, perfect dick, perfect everything.

And then of course they RETURN from holiday and it’s business as usual. Harry Hart is back from the dead.

Eggsy is half-afraid to face him when he first sees him sitting by the fireplace in Merlin’s interim Arthur office. They’d parted with such horrible words between them. But Harry slowly stands and Eggsy sees the way he leans on a cane. He sees the patch over his eye, the stress and age on his face. “My dear boy,” Harry whispers. “I am so horribly sorry.”

“Not as sorry as I am,” Eggsy blurts out. Harry holds out an arm and Eggsy hugs him.

“From what I hear you have fulfilled every dream I had for you. I am so very proud.”

“Thank you, Harry.” And then Eggsy is suddenly choked up and cannot say anything more. He simply buries his face in Harry’s shoulder and looks at Merlin, who smiles and winks at him.

“Apparently the death of Valentine and his evil empire is not the only thing I missed?” Harry says as he releases Eggsy. He looks from Eggsy to Merlin and back again. “Merlin informs me that you and he are a couple.”

“I, well…” Eggsy stammers. He isn’t sure what Merlin’s told Harry, or how much he wants to tell him. He’d stand on the top of the Tower of London and proclaim his feelings for Merlin, but that’s only because he’s the lucky one. Merlin is the one stuck with a former thief and rentboy.

“Aye, Harry,” Merlin says. He stands up with a smile and Eggsy immediately gravitates toward him. He slips an arm around Eggsy’s waist and pulls him close. “Your lad here is incredibly stupid…seems to think I’m worth his time and affection.”

“Miss me with that,” Eggsy snaps. “I’m the lucky one.”

“And you always told me I was dramatic,” Harry says, rolling his good eye. “I suppose I will have to sit here and watch the two of you make heart eyes at each other?”

“I dinnae make heart eyes,” Merlin immediately retorts. “And no one is asking you to watch.”

“You are right…no one is asking me to watch,” Harry agrees. “But I will, gladly. Eggsy puts something in your eyes, Hamish, that I have never seen before. And it looks good on you.”

Eggsy blushes and looks at his feet. Harry has a brain injury and a missing eye. He’ll see it soon enough. Merlin is too good for Eggsy, and soon the other shoe will drop. Eggsy doesn’t get nice things, not on a permanent level.

Eggsy figures he might see even less of Merlin now, since his best mate is back. Merlin and Eggsy spend a lot of time participating in ‘horizontal activities,’ but they also do things that friends do. They go to pubs. They watch footie. They occasionally work out together. Eggsy guess that Merlin will want to do those things with Harry, but when Eggsy tentatively brings it up, Merlin looks at him as if he’s crazy. “Harry and I do enjoy a well-made drink now and then…but if that happens he insists on doing it at one of those ridiculously fancy hotel bars. He watches cricket.”

“Cricket?” Eggsy wrinkles his nose.

“Aye. If I want to watch someone waving a bat around, I prefer American baseball. And when I’m done working out, and I’m sweaty and tired, I’d much rather be in the shower with you than him.” Eggsy turns pink at the look Merlin gives him. “Unless ye dinnae wish to do these things with me. If ye were only doing it because ye felt sorry for me…” 

“No!” Eggsy says immediately. “Love spending time with you. Just figured he’s your best mate, and you thought you lost him.”

“All right,” Merlin says worriedly. Eggsy quickly changes the subject, wanting that furrow of concern gone from Merlin’s forehead.

They form a weird platonic triangle of sorts, Merlin doing things with Harry that only old friends can do, and Eggsy filling a new niche in Harry’s life. Harry loves to teach (he calls it ‘bestowing wisdom,’ Eggsy calls it ‘lecturing’) and will spend hours instructing Eggsy on new ways to knot a tie, or the best way to infiltrate a den of thieves without blowing the place up. In return Eggsy becomes Harry’s therapy partner, giving him someone to compete with instead of sitting for hours and doing the same repetitive exercises. Eggsy gets Harry talking while he does his therapy, asking questions about Merlin, his da, anything to keep Harry from frowning at what he sees as lack of progress.

Soon Harry turns the tables, asking Eggsy questions about his future, what he wants, what he plans to do. “I plan on being a Kingsman as long as I can, Haz, you know that,” Eggsy says, giving him an odd look.

“But what about a family?”

“I got a family. Kingsman is my family.”

“Surely you don’t plan on living in that tiny flat for the rest of your life.”

Eggsy wonders what he’s getting at, but is too shy to ask. “Ain’t like I got anyone else to share it with me.” He rolls a hand weight back and forth on the table. “And Merlin don’t…”

“Merlin doesn’t what, Eggsy?” Harry asks gently.

Eggsy sighs. “I don’t get happy endings,” he says instead. “A long time ago I learned to be happy with what I got…not wish for something else and wonder why I never get it.”

“Mum said dinner is at six sharp tomorrow,” Eggsy says as Merlin unlocks the door of his house. “And I seriously think she could probably gut us neat and clean if we’re late.” Merlin steps aside and allows Eggsy to come in first. Eggsy loves Merlin’s little house. The work office is clinical and clean and full of gadgets, but everything else is warm and brown and welcoming.

“We will nae be late,” Merlin says. “Are ye sure ye dinnae wish to just spend the night there, lad? I know ye enjoy watching your sister open her gifts.”

“It’s fine…getting that phone call from her after she opens them is the best,” Eggsy says. “Plus it’s different now. Mum’s able to give her the kind of holiday she deserves, and I don’t need to worry.” Eggsy frowns up at him. “Unless you don’t want me staying here for Christmas Eve, or Christmas morning, or…”

“Eggsy, do ye still think I only put up with your presence?” Merlin says with a frown. “We’ve been together for over a year now. My favorite place is wherever I can spend time with ye.”

“Merlin.” Eggsy blushes. “I…I feel that way, too.”

Merlin looks at him for a long moment. “Come here.” He takes Eggsy by the hand and leads him into the living room. “Please sit.”

“We doing gifts now? Mine are in the car…lemme get them.” Eggsy turns back around.

“Nae, lad, please sit,” Merlin all but begs. 

“All right.” Eggsy slowly sits down, not liking the serious look on Merlin’s face. “Did I do something wrong? Mum won’t really gut you with a kitchen knife, swear down.”

“Nae, Eggsy, ye have done nothing wrong. I just…this is hard for me.”

“Fuck,” Eggsy whispers. Why? Why now? Why can’t he be happy? “You…you breaking up with me?”

“God, no!” Merlin looks horrified. “I’m going about this all wrong.” He rubs a hand over his bald head and sighs. He drops to his knees, digs a small box out from under the tree, and knee-walks over to Eggsy. “I was going to wait, make some sort of grand announcement tomorrow, but it looks like now is as good a time as ever.” He presses the box into Eggsy’s hands. “Eggsy, our relationship was born of stress and sorrow and then turned into the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love when we’re together, no matter what activity we’re doing. I love ye so much, Eggsy Unwin.”

“I love you, too, Merlin. So damn much.” Eggsy leans in and kisses him.

“Now open the gift before I lose my mind.”

Eggsy gives him one last odd look before tearing into the paper. He removes the lid of the tiny box and holds up a key. “A key.”

“Aye, to my front door…in the hopes that it can be your front door as well.”

“You…you want me to move in?” Eggsy stares at him in wonder.

“Aye, if ye would be liking it.”

“No, I wouldn’t be liking it.” Eggsy sniffles. “I’d be fucking loving it.” He throws himself into Merlin’s arms, tackling him to the ground. “Jesus FUCK I’d love it.”

Merlin kisses him, his arms warm and tight around him. “Ye have made me so happy, Eggsy.” He buries his face in Eggsy’s hair.

“Me, too, Merlin…so happy.” 

Take that, powers that be. Eggsy will make his own happy ending, thank you very much.


End file.
